Is societies' view on sports harmful?

I like practicing sports but I never watch them since I feel that it's a waste of my time and that it polarizes society.

My thought is that it's ALWAYS harmful to think in terms of "We & Them" instead of simply "We", the prior is to me what most sports are about.

I have been thinking about this for quite some time and yesterday when I typed "Liver" on Facebook to find a fried "Liverpool FC" showed up with it's 6,5 million likes, while I already knew that TED only has 1.2 million...

I wen't further and checked Real Madrid (17) and FC Barcelona (18) while School only has 2 million likes, I think you get the trend and what I'm going at...

Jul 23 2011:
When they are based on superficial wishes.... or become pure business... among others.
As for if it's most of the time... I wouldn't know. Good for a thesis maybe ? *smile*
I'd find a distribution of these view on a demographic of age, sex and social strata far more interesting.

Jul 21 2011:
Well, there are a number of better things we can invest time in, watching sports being one of them. Actually, I don't have a huge problem with watching sports- I do so regularly myself. I suppose it's a question of where you draw the line. Football, or competitive sports in general is just one of the things most people can very easily relate to, probably because of the sense of belonging it brings and the purpose of uniting it offers. It can also be a very dominant self- definition tool, for example where I come from. I doubt it will fade out anytime soon.

I know that sports are one of, if not THE thing that people can relate to... I'm of the thought that it isn't good that people put their sense of belonging and unity under a banner that divides people into separate camps... I'm also of the thought that people shouldn't have a (what I see as) narrow-minded view on ones self or that it makes any difference if you're from Austria, India or Sweden... I feel that this is what societies view on sports promote.

We're on the same page- the society can indeed have an otherizing view on sports, especially in the international arena. But sports can also give direction to the lives of people, so like I said, it's mostly a matter of where you draw the line. Plus, I think the negative aspects to sports can not be so easily eliminated; and if they will be, there should be an alternative to all the things that so many people relate to on such an intense level.

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